I've just been thumbing through Jay Winik's April 1865 again, and was caught on the section where Winik mentions the fact that Jefferson Davis was inclined to want to fight on at the end of the war using guerilla tactics. He says that Lee, in an effort to help the South "get back into the Union and to peace," wrote a last letter to Davis, knowing that the contents would get out to Joe Johnston and the others still in the field, rejecting guerilla warfare and seeking peace.

What would have happened had Lee not written to Davis? Or what if Davis had not listened to Lee (or did he really hold Lee in such esteem as to listen to him blindly?)? Did this letter from Lee really "end" the war? I noted that Lee didn't mention "let's quit now because we have no chance, " simply that he suggested union and peace.